How 24SEVEN Apni Dukan is using tech to build communities and transform your neighbourhood stores - Profit by Pakistan Today

With a $6mn war chest, 24SEVEN plans to transform grocery retail chain from businesses to consumers and revitalise the cultural legacy of kiryana stores
Let us begin with a small fact. Your neighborhood corner shop is not just a place to buy groceries but a cultural citadel of the mohalla they are in. That chacha ji ki dukaan around the corner is where the evening meetups of the neighborhood elders reminisce about the ghazals of Madam. It is also the place where the accidental meetups of aunties lead to real matchmaking in the neighborhood. And needless to say that chacha ji ki dukan is the place that evokes childhood nostalgia.
What is also now a fact is that a lot has happened over time that has changed the concept of neighborhoods. The sprawling housing societies, the commercialisation of real-estate and the concomitant rise of supermarkets has changed what we could remember of neighborhood stores when we were of a younger age. Today, when we think of grocery shopping, retailers like Al-Fatah and Carrefour would most likely come to mind. It is getting totally out of touch now and the neighborhood stores in Pakistan, just as it happened in the Western economies, could eventually lead to losing their relevance not just as small businesses but as places that are a part of the culture and heritage of Pakistani society.
Part of the reason why neighbourhood stores could be on the cusp of losing their relevance is that large retailers, such as Metro, Carrefour, or Al-Fatah in...

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